Reading with your daughter is a great way to gain insight into her world. While talking about characters in a book, she’s more likely to open up with you about issues that are important to her that may not otherwise come up in day-to-day life. Sharing good books can also be a lot of fun.

Parenting a child with a disability comes with its own set of unique frustrations. The exhaustion might be tripled, evaluations and assessments are scary and stressful, and there may not be one best way to move forward with therapy. Fortunately, most mothers of children with disabilities are positive, proactive, and energetic. They lead support groups, are activists in the special education community, and are champions for their children. However, even the most optimistic of these mothers have struggled with anxiety and worry at one time or a hundred. Here are some suggestions from parents who have been there and what they’ve learned along the way.

A screaming child in a grocery store, an anxiety ridden child refusing to speak to other kids at the park, spending too much money for a ticket to a children’s show only to have them scream when the lights go down. For most of us, these moments (Thank God) are rare. For some families, however, these “moments” are daily struggles as a result of raising a child with special needs. In conjunction with physical and/or behavioral issues, some families of children with disabilities also know the challenge of well meaning (and not so well meaning) people offering advice. As most people truly want to help, here are some tips parents of children with disabilities would like to pass along: